Hoylake - going in hope rather than expectation.

I was 56 last Sunday and with age comes a slightly more forensic view of sports especially golf. Of all the sporting events that took place over the weekend three took my attention. The passing of the baton in Wimbledon at the men's singles final, watching on as the Meath men’s senior football team were victorious at Croke Park and hoping a Waterfordian might be successful at the Scottish Open.

Over the years I had witnessed some great finals at SW19 and saw the game of tennis evolve through various personalities. Looking back this evolution of tennis like all sport could not be halted – Ashe and Connors passed the torch to Borg and McEnroe who in turn passed it on to Agassi, Becker and Sampras. And although many may still believe in Djokovic as the last man standing of his era; there can be little doubt that Alcaraz is the new kid on the block.  

I also had the pleasure of working in Drogheda 25 years ago and found it very strange looking at Meath celebrate their Tailteann Cup victory last Saturday. One can only imagine predicting the future back in 1999 following their 3rd title in 11 seasons that their next all Ireland senior men’s title would be in a losers group competition played as a curtain raiser to an actual All Ireland senior men’s semi-final. The joy expressed by the Meath management after the final whistle looked hollow to me and one can only imagine what the likes of Giles, McDermott, O’Malley and Hector thought of the affair.  

Seamus Power wasn’t the only Waterfordian in the field at the Scottish Open and his early retirement on Thursday left hopes of a Deise success with team MacIntyre. Greg Milne is back looping with Robert MacIntyre and but for a birdie birdie finish by you know who, there wouldn’t have been a blaa baked in Waterford this week. The hype has kicked in after McIlroy’s success in Scotland and in previous years I would have been driving the bandwagon but in all honesty after last year’s Open Championship at St. Andrews I can no longer take control of this runaway train.

This year’s Open at Hoylake if the wind blows has all the resemblance of an Aintree Grand National where the ground is bottomless. The four days which are ahead of us will provide us with a worthy champion golfer of the year but in all seriousness, I can see no favourite. I have always fell under the magic spell of the Majors in golf looking at trends, what the golfing gods will deemed appropriate or hoping that the luck of the Irish would surely get our man over the line. All that changed 12 months ago at the Home of Golf when Cam Smith turned up on the final day with a red-hot putter and Rory simply had no answer. Therefore, we should all enjoy the final Major of the season in hope rather than expectation.